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Description
Perfect Little WorldWilson's ambition alone is exciting. . . . His] writing has a Houdini like perfection, wherein no matter how grim the variables, each lovely sentence manages to escape with all its parts intact." Boston Globe The eagerly anticipated follow up to the New York Times bestseller The Family Fang a warm hearted and moving story about a young woman making a family on her own terms. When Isabelle Poole meets Dr. Preston Grind, she's fresh out of high school,
Wilson's ambition alone is exciting. . . . His] writing has a Houdini-like perfection, wherein no matter how grim the variables, each lovely sentence manages to escape with all its parts intact." --Boston Globe
The eagerly-anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestseller The Family Fang--a warm-hearted and moving story about a young woman making a family on her own terms.
When Isabelle Poole meets Dr. Preston Grind, she's fresh out of high school, pregnant with her art teacher's baby, and totally on her own. Izzy knows she can be a good mother but without any money or relatives to help, she's left searching.
Dr. Grind, an awkwardly charming child psychologist, has spent his life studying family, even after tragedy struck his own. Now, with the help of an eccentric billionaire, he has the chance to create a "perfect little world"--to study what would happen when ten children are raised collectively, without knowing who their biological parents are. He calls it The Infinite Family Project and he wants Izzy and her son to join.
This attempt at a utopian ideal starts off promising, but soon the gentle equilibrium among the families disintegrates: unspoken resentments between the couples begin to fester; the project's funding becomes tenuous; and Izzy's growing feelings for Dr. Grind make her question her participation in this strange experiment in the first place.
Written with the same compassion and charm that won over legions of readers with The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson shows us with grace and humor that the best families are the ones we make for ourselves.
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Ecco Press
Published: 10/24/2017
ISBN: 9780062450340
Pages: 352
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 7.80h x 5.20w x 0.90d
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4.5 ★★★★★
Based on 152 reviews
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Product Reviews
★★★★★ 5
A must have for the serious tracker!
Format: Kindle
8/23/19 Edit: Original review based only on Kindle version, but since receiving my paper copy, I've edited it throughout. Overall I am even more enthusiastic about it. I'm a bit of a dinosaur and rarely use Kindle and I found it harder to evaluate the book without paper pages to flip through.
This is THE authoritative source for N. American mammal tracks & sign. What makes it (including 1st edn) special:
1. It is organized by type of sign rather than by species (but see below in "What's new"). This is terrific for when you've found some type of sign and can't narrow it down to a few species. Found a scat? Go to the section on scat and learn the appearance of scat left by different species so you can ID yours.
2. It's comprehensive (covers many species) and exacting (detailed measurements, meticulously researched).
3. Photos are large and clear enough to show what they intend to convey.
4. It has illustrations to help you grasp the salient features of tracks, but also photos that help you see how tracks and trails differ in different substrates.
What's new in this 2nd edition:
1. There is a final chapter called "Species Accounts" and in each account, there are detailed illustrations of feet, and photos and illustrations of tracks and track patterns. The animal's other types of sign (runs, feeding sign, etc.) are summarized verbally. The photos of those other signs are all in the other relevant chapters, but references to figure numbers are given in the Species Accounts. These Species Accounts are a dramatic improvement over the 1st edn, in which they were part of the Tracks and Trails chapter, and did not usually mention other types of sign created by each animal. The Species Accounts in the 2nd edn make it much easier for the reader to get a coherent picture of each species, so this is a dramatic improvement. Essentially the book is still organized by sign, but the Species Accounts make it far easier to navigate.
2. I mentioned above the detailed illustrations of feet, but this deserves emphasis. These are great; it really helps to be able to correlate the foot anatomy to the the track.
3. It has many new photos, which are extremely clear and illustrate the points beautifully.
4. Range maps have been omitted. This is a negative, and I imagine it was done to save space.
5. The book is, overall, much more appealing to the eye, perhaps because it is better organized. I have to admit I thought the 1st edn was a bit awkward in its organization and I sometimes found it frustrating to flip through in search of something in particular....Not the case at all in the 2nd edn.
While the species accounts now include summaries of other types of sign, they still do not provide an image of the animal, physical description, diet, breeding behavior, habitat, etc. This is not a criticism (you can't everything about mammals in one book), it is just to say that this book remains the top reference for the intermediate to advanced tracker, but not the best place for a beginner to start. If you're a beginning tracker and you don't already have a solid knowledge of each animal's appearance, range, and basic ecology, I suggest you first read one of the following, both of which are truly organized by species.
1. Camera Trapping Guide: Tracks, Sign and Behavior of Eastern Wildlife, by Janet Pesaturo -- Less comprehensive track & sign but has photos of each animals, sometimes with the animals in the act of creating the sign. It has range maps and much info on each species' ecology and behavior but not so much that it's overwhelming or unreadable. Focused on eastern US but most species also found in west. Yes, it's technically a camera trapping guide, but it's really about using track & sign knowledge to find animal hot spots (for good camera placement), so it's hugely helpful for trackers. I prefer this over Rezendes's Tracking and the Art of Seeing, which also focuses mostly on the East but has no range maps and has less about ecology and behavior.
2. The Tracker's Field Guide, by James Lowery -- Also less comprehensive than Elbroch's and MacFarland's tome, but for a tracking book it has very nice coverage of pertinent animal ecology. Focused mainly on western US but still useful for eastern US. Has both illustrations and photos, though admittedly some of the photos are a bit small or less than perfectly clear. Still, I consider it the best for the west among species by species tracking guides.
If you're a serious tracker of any level, you'll find the 2nd edition of Mammal Tracks & Sign extremely useful. As you learn tracking, it won't be long before you find some kind of sign which you can't narrow down to a couple of species. In that case, a book organized by type of sign makes it quick and easy for you to narrow it down and probably determine exact species. And, there is simply no other tracking guide that's anywhere near as comprehensive as this one. The 1st edition has been one of the most useful books in my extensive natural history library, and I'm delighted to have this updated edition. A must-have for the serious tracker!
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Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2019
★★★★★ 5
Tons of info!
Format: Paperback
If one wanted to be a real tracker, this book has everything needed. I just want to be able to recognize the local wildlife tracks. But having all the rest of the info is nice, and it's easy to take what I want. The book is well organized. Fantastic pictures, loads of information. It's interesting too, to see just how much knowledge goes into figuring out not only what animal it is, but what sex, age, gait, etc it is. This is an awesome book.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2025
★★★★★ 5
Caveats for the professional tracker
Format: Paperback, Format: Paperback
This is a most excellent resource, arguably the best single tracking book that exists (i would argue so, if i had to pick one! And i recommend this book often). However, if you are in a professional field where this legally matters (EIS or ESA decisions on wolverine/fisher/lynx, etc.), take heed: the authors’ methods of measuring tracks are confusing (i.e. - where is the line between substrate/mammal family to determine when claws or ‘posterior’ pads are or are not used in measuring tracks? ) Also, the claim that “an individual animal can show incredible variation in track size” (p.57) is very misleading… Foot size of an individual animal from birth to adult will obviously change, but will not change in a day for the same-aged individual animal regardless of whether it walks in mud or atop rock. The animal’s foot does not change in size, but its track might appear to. This perceived “change” could be easily avoided by using minimum outline measurements (which are not discussed in this book, but can be found in the work by J. Halfpenny and others). I understand their reasons, but please do not refer to this book for legally defensible measuring techniques of rare species!!!!
Also please disregard the negative reviewer who said “it’s a very Mythological Approach to how animals move and walk (jsopel),”- they clearly don’t know what that word means…
All in all a well-researched and fantastic book that comes from ample and legitimate experience. A great book and happy tracking!
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Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2021
★★★★★ 5
A must have for wildlife lovers
Format: Paperback
Wow! What an excellent and thorough compilation of scat and tracks. Nice reference for when you take pics and bring the image back to the book for comparison. Also, great information about tracking.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2025
★★★★★ 4
Good but index needs improvement
Format: Paperback
This is a good, comprehensive guide to tracks and sign.
However, there is no index of where to find each family, so in order to find a species you have to flip through the entire book looking for the right page. This makes it annoying to use if you are trying to look up information on a particular species or family.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2026